When Employees Go Viral: Speech Within and Outside of the Workplace

The recent "Google Memo" unleashed a heated debate about the limits of employee expression both within and outside of the workplace. While the First Amendment generally prohibits the government -- not private employers -- from curtailing a person's free speech rights, there are a host of important factors relating to self-expression that employers should consider -- from both legal and cultural perspectives.

Please join us as we explore these timely, thought-provoking and important issues. Labor and employment attorney Anne Villanueva will address the following questions in this critical area of employee relations:

What is the legal landscape with respect to employee expression in the workplace of private employers?

Do any laws speak to private employers' rights, obligations, and limitations with respect to the regulation of employee speech outside of the workplace?

Do California and federal laws regarding employee speech differ, and if so, in what respects?

What policies and procedures should companies consider with respect to employee speech within and outside of the workplace?

In what ways have federal and state laws changed in connection with the growth of the Internet as a medium of employee speech?

What are some "best practices" a company should follow when faced with a public controversy arising out of an employee's self-expression?

Anne Villanueva counsels clients on a broad range of employment matters, including employment-related issues arising out of U.S. and multinational corporate transactions, executive employment agreements and separation agreements, restrictive covenant agreements, reductions-in-force, discrimination charges and lawsuits, collective bargaining agreements and internal investigations. Ms. Villanueva has been a member of Skadden’s Hispanic and Women’s affinity groups since she joined the firm in 2012.

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